Is Devialet's Phantom Really the Best Wireless Speaker?

The Gold Devialet Phantom Review: Hi-Fi with High-Tech Attitude

At Rate Your Sound, our best wireless speakers reviews only happen because of the savvy characters behind the scenes who have years of music making and audio hardware expertise. These are the people who scrunch the specs, inspect all the bits and bobs of hardware, and review the music software associated with these wireless music systems. Their assignment is to give you a real-world take living with these wireless hi-fi music systems; along with how to get the most out of your high-tech audio investment.

Our elite group of writers is composed of a stylish handful of hard-core musicians, music critics, and audio engineers leading other lives while writing for us. In addition to their contributions here, these individuals are in music publishing, music software, and one is a bona-fide composer.

This Rate Your sound team promises to avoid reviewing every average-fi speaker system that shows up. Not everyone has money to burn so we will also never ignore good value in search of a the best luxury wireless stereo systems. That said, we will go to extremes to seek out the most unique and finest luxury wireless audio systems for todays modern home. Our Top 20 Wireless Audio Systems reviews will include: all-in-one music systems for the tabletop, desktop speakers for the office, the living room, and your multiroom needs.

We promise to tell you when one of these high-tech products are a pleasure to live with or more likely would be sent back to the store for a refund. We will work tirelessly at filtering out the average to only review the most exceptional wireless audio speaker systems under a $1000 dollars to $10,000 dollars and above.

Gold Phantom: We asked Bunny Brunhilde our International audio reviewer at large and musik/drama critic to ponder the Gold Phantom by Devialet. Bunny is a collector of all things shiny and we had a feeling she would would find this rebellious and provocative gear from Devialet most interesting to review. Bunny is also rigorous about detail and we wanted her critical eye cast over this hyper-priced but alluring wireless music system.

Bunny Likes the Facts:

- Invented by Devialet (pronounced: duv'-ē-a-lay) in France

- Gold Phantom music system offers outrageous tech and luxury looks

- 4500W of power in a 10 x 10 x 13-inch buttonless pod in shiny gold and white

Design: It's Johnny Ives Time

Devialet discussed the pods distinctive silhouette as a classic case of form following function. 'The design of the Phantom was totally driven by acoustic laws co-axial speakers, one source point architecture as the design of a formula one car is driven by aerodynamic laws.' and 'The physics of what we're doing demands a sphere. It was just a happy accident that the Phantom ended up looking beautiful.'

With everything we know about the French here at RYS we are more than a bit skeptical about that statement.

Inside Phantom: Open the Pod door Hal!

What's inside the hermetically sealed pod is a cast aluminum core containing four custom loudspeakers. The story goes that prototypes were fitted with the most robust commercial loudspeakers available and they all failed and blew up into tiny pieces!

To solve that little problem Devialet then cast the core structures from Aluminum alloy used in the making of welded nuclear tanks. Devialet loudspeaker are also designed using the highest grade Titanium for the tweeters helping achieve the spectacular performance with the high frequencies.

Devialet tells us, the Phantom's ideal sphere shape and the four speaker architecture combination create a convincing omni-directional sound at different listening angles helping a single Phantom to sound more open and room-filling in mono.

Devialet Phantom Wireless Speaker Review [Video]

Video of This bulletproof wireless speaker will amaze audiophiles

The amplifiers are a unique Class A configuration for high quality sound in combination with a Class D Amplifiers for compactness. As a duo, they produce 4500 Watts of D for Digital power. Simon Egg our engineer piped in saying, it's pioneering work merging these types of amplifiers and the musical sounds are spectacular coming from such a small device.

With every single connection managed by circuit boards and other components, the unit is as electrically efficient as it is compact. Finishing things off, the pod has no physical controls other than a reset button that can be felt but not and the power cable that hangs out of the back.

Devialet's Apple Connection

For our Apple fans the company now has a working relationship with Devialet. The CEO said, working with Apple was a dream of Devialet since it's conception. Long term we'd only be guessing as to the relationship but today the plan is Apple stores will help deploy the Phantom's around the world with products similar to Apple in quality and re-invention.

Does Apple give a boost to the legitimacy of Devialet? Bunny Brunhilde thinks Apple will buy the company and its patents. She's concluded, if it looks like an Apple product, costs like an Apple product, then it must actually be an Apple product!

Music Streaming Services

The Phantom streams Apple Music, Spotify, TIDAL and more. It plays music wirelessly from your iOS and Android device, laptop. With the Toslink Optical input you'll also be able to connect your turntable, CD player, TV or video game console.

Is Phantom Brilliant or Extravagant?

A speaker is the heart of any music system. Devialet's speaker design and its 'one source point architecture' is arguably a landmark innovation pioneered by another great company, KEF with its Uni-Q 'point source' driver array which has been in development for over 20 years.

This type of musical speaker design however it's branded by Devialet, KEF and others, are superior to most of the conventional speakers achieving a level of sound quality over a broad area and the whole audio range. Bunny our very own golden ears is all about 'point source' speakers, having spent time with KEF LS50 and KEF X Series speakers which we also review.

Phantom Gold's two 'one source point' drivers has a high performance Titanium tweeter with high frequency resolution up to 27kHz matched with two omnidirectional bass drivers. These two bass drivers will make themselves know as they expand and compress when you fire the system up ready to flex their bass muscles. The four drivers will produce 108db of rock concert sound and Devialet's low-frequency subwoofer voodoo takes the bass to a notable 14Hz. Simon Egg our engineer mumbles, this kind of performance has to be looked into.. Simon pondered, I'm not sure you can hear 14Hz, but you'll feel it.

Now certainly a single Phantom Gold will confidently take you straight to eleven and blow you out of your chair. But you will need a stereo Duo of Phantom's to enlighten you and justify the Devialet claim of sounding as good as a $50,000 stereo system. Everyone here agrees the roughly $5,000 two speaker Dou Phantom system certainly looks the part to take on a traditional wired system.

Gold Phantom Sound Quality

We heard a pair of Phantom's late one night in Chicago because a friend added a pair to his big league home theater room. We did two hours of listening to music and covered genres with a collection of modern and older music with varying recording qualities. Like all good point-source speakers to get the most out of what the speaker is capable of sitting in the sweet-spot is always helpful.

We found the Duo Phantom's sound was real, spacious and utterly convincing with some of our favorite recordings. The bass and midrange doesn't overpower matters and is integrated with the pin-point imaging of the tweeter. The soundstage was as larger than the speakers with space around the vocals and instruments. It also was no surprise the Phantom's were truly distortion free at frighteningly high volume levels.

A pair of Phantom's can be for much more than just music so Bunny checked out some Blu-Ray movies and the Xbox One games. She loved the thunderous power the speakers displayed and felt an apartment living room with one or two Phantom's would be an excellent companion for movies and your game console.

We've all concluded the Duo Phantom's in stereo reach that level of scary good sound at both concert listening levels or normal listening levels. You'll find nothing sounds bad or artificial and even average sounding recordings still sound big and warm with pleasurable sonics. It is a minimalist sound system with big speaker sound for audiophiles, music lovers, film buffs and gamers that are critical about their sound.

"Most people's only regret will be they only have one Phantom" - Bunny Brunhilde

Our Team Talks Devialet Phantom:

Buzz Kill

This guy is our vinyl loving, part-time audiophile and composer whose time with the Phantom system wasn't all good. Buzz only just got his first smartphone so technology is not really his thing. The Phantom lacked buttons, knobs or VU meters and he didn't care about streaming from a smartphone. He was comforted to learn that it was easy to hook-up a turntable or CD player and imagined he might like that kind of system.

He's a critical listener who like things all things mellow and was amazed how subtle sounding the Phantom's could be with his favorite folk and country music tracks. For rock music the more forward high end and prodigious mid-bass was striking the right notes for him.

Buzz said, these two speakers compared well to his 2.1 home stereo rig of similarly sized KEF LS50 speakers and a Velodyne subwoofer.

Is The Devialet Phantom the Best Speaker In The World? [Video]

Video of Devialet Phantom Review! Best Speaker in the World?

Bunny Brunhilde

"Quality and Amplitude" is Bunny's thoughts about the Phantom.. She told us it reminded her of her favorite possession, an immaculate but pre-loved baby grand piano with lots of amplitude... How she affords it we just don't know, but neither should we speculate!

Bunny gushed about the Devialet while having just one single concern. She loved everything and thought that the system was perfectly marvelous in almost every way, but she thinks the price is outrageous to achieve a stereo result.

For Bunny, The Remote, Tree, Gecko and Cocoon are made in France and that's enough to want it - The Tree, Gecko, and Treepod are Divialet's custom made speaker stands are for our audiophiles.

Bunny loved that Devialet re-imagines doing something in a whole new way with its one-piece music system. She said, those ready to go completely bonkers, a duo of Phantom's really will take you to a sonic eleven. Lastly, if you have a big old stereo you'd like to put in storage or a Sonos system that you'd consider upgrading and have some extra lettuce you'd regret not giving a Duo of Phantom's a place in your home.

Bunny is many things, including our golden eared reviewer and she was knocked-out by the sound of stereo pair of Phantom's but wishes they were more affordable. She likes her music orchestral-hall loud. She felt the Phantom's did a proper job on voice and instruments for the most demanding opera and classical music from her collection. She's pondering one Phantom to place for on top of her baby grand. As far as accessories go Bunny would put the soon- to- be available Cocoon first on her list.

Because of the sound quality and how easy it was to connect with her 128GB iPhone loaded with music, Bunny wanted to continue her love affair with the Phantom.

Bunny's been relocating across countries because she is an international type of girl and at the moment her music gear consists of: The amazing sounding PSB M4U noise canceling headphones, MacBook Air, iPhone, and AudioQuest's DragonFly USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier. Bunny will continue to focus on stylish home systems for Rate Your Sound for the most obvious of reasons!

Simon Egg

Simon is our wireless expert, music producer, audio electronics engineer, and resident techie. He would like to add a few more items to that list, but we're not here to flatter his ego. That said, if left to his own devices he would be restoring vintage tube stereo gear and electric guitars. We think that's cool.

Simon streams Spotify, Google Play and TIDAL and said that, his faith is restored when companies like Devialet take the guesswork out of connecting devices wireless devices to Wi-Fi Apple AirPlay or Bluetooth.

Simon is an engineer at heart and most of what he said about the SQ (sound quality) went over our collective heads. The sealed case under tremendous pressure levels was mentioned. He also mumbled about which large African mammals might have the hearing range befitting the loudspeaker's bass response.

What he actually said was that ony African Elephants could hear the low-end frequencies generated by the Devialet.

Simon is a jazz guy and when he finally listened to his favorite Bill Evans tracks he smiled, tapped his toes while holding a guitar case in his head at the Village Vanguard (just in case Bill wanted to expand his trio into a quartet for the night). So we are guessing they met his approval.

After listening Simon got excited and decided these Phantom's matched perfectly with his 1996 glass covered Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 9000 6-CD changer and replace his B&O speakers! He's sure it would be the perfect living room system for him.

Simon would also select either the Tree or Gecko Speaker Stand to finish off his Devialet / Bang & Olufsen combo system.

Ace Riley

Ace Riley is our adventurer, and spy writer who covets all things wireless and portable. He's out of pocket right now but did phone in a quick comment. He thought if Devialet better get the French Skunkworks dreaming up something even more portable. We don't know Ace's location, music system or musical tastes as of yet. We might have Ace take up our next review which is to see how a $500.00 Sonos system sounds next to the ultra-expensive Devialet Phantom.

Devialet Phantom Accessories

There are a few stunningly expensive accessories for your Devialet Phantom speakers. The design ethic is carried through all of the items that can accompany your 'alien eggs'.

Phantom Carry-case

Because the Devialet Phantom is small enough to actually carry around, it's possiible to take it anywhere that can provide a power source.

No more small and flimsy-sounding portable speakers for you or your friends at parties! Simply pop the Phantom into it's very own Bowling Ball style carry-case and you are off and partying at DJ volume levels in no time.

It's hard not to adore this case. Not only is it thoroghly protective, it's functional and stylish rather like it's contents.

The case is not as readily available as the Pantom itself but hunt one down if you can, especially if you want to impress your friends and neighbors.

Who wouldn't want to show-off their Phantom? Loud music is for sharing, after all...

Phantom Remote

The remote is rather more of an essential item than a frivolous accessory to the Phantom. Remote controls are ubiquitous and no futuristic gadget should be without one. Imagine having to stand up and walk over to a wall of sound instead of casually using the remote. Unthinkable.

In any case, it does just function as a volume dial. A very stylish one with a luxury feel, but a volume dial nevertheless. Do not expect any fancy functionality with the Phantom Remote, that's what your Phone is for.

This is all about volume and nothing more.

That said, there are many advantages to ditching your phone and simply listening to the music how Devialet intended. All you need is volume. Skipping tracks is not an option when enyoying a serious listening experience.

The volume remote is extremely well designed and fits neatly in the palm of your hand giving you tactile and precise digital control of the sound levels. This remote may be more useful if you have the Stereo paired setup.

If you are just testing the waters with a single Phantom then this remote may be a little extravagent.

So go ahead, get the stero pair and the remote. All or nothing, right?!

Devialet Phantom User Manual

Something we've always liked at RYS are manufacturer PDF manuals, they give you the best idea of what you're getting before you actually buy.